It is known in the prior art to use generally triangular cartons for packaging wedge or triangular shaped food items. U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,323 (to Platt) discloses a wedge shaped folding carton for packaging pizza slices. Although well-suited for its intended purpose, the disclosed package may not provide adequate support and protection for the typically fragile crust of dessert-type pies. Additionally, the disclosed carton does not provide access to the contents through an unobstructed top opening.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,432,490 (to Roberts) and 4,492,333 (also to Roberts), owned by the assignee of the present invention, are directed to providing a carton for containing single servings of dessert-type pies. In particular, the Roberts patents are directed to providing a carton having adequate strength to protect fragile slices of pie. The disclosed cartons also are designed for inexpensive, efficient production and forming of the carton from a single blank of paperboard material. While these cartons represent improvements in cartons for containing single servings of dessert-type pies, they require consumer manipulation of rear closure flaps to gain access to the contents. Typically, these flaps are affixed or attached to each other by adhesive or other means. The cartons disclosed in the Roberts patents disclose no special opening structure to facilitate the manipulation of the rear flaps or to otherwise gain access to the contents.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,313,542 (to Roberts, et al.) and 4,432,489 (to Cote), also owned by the assignee of the present invention, disclose cartons especially adapted for packaging single servings of dessert-type pie. The cartons disclosed in these latter two patents include wall and flap structures designed to protect fragile pie crusts and include completely removable tear strips for opening the carton and for providing completely open, top access to the contents. However, these cartons do not maximize cost efficiency in the production. Further, they cause excess litter and a clean-up problem, because the completely removable tear strips may not always be neatly discarded.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,014 (to Brandenburger) overcomes some of the problems of the prior art mentioned above. The Brandenburger patent is directed to a generally triangular paperboard carton having a carton closure arrangement including means for grasping and separating the cover portion from the body portion of the carton to open the carton. However, the disclosed carton may be weakened because weakened lines of tear are located along the long edges of the cover portion just where that portion is joined to the sides of the carton. Also, the means for grasping and separating comprises a tab located at the apex of the triangularly shaped carton, and it may be difficult to deflect the carton side wall sufficiently to grasp the tab because at the apex, four side wall panels and a front corner flap are adjacent and secured to each other. Because the tab is at one end of the carton, a force applied thereto may cause twisting of the carton, damaging the pie and making the product less attractive to a consumer. Although, it discloses a rectangular box carton, not a triangular carton for containing a single piece of pie, U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,438 (to Rigby) discloses a carton having opener panel with an opening tab, located at a corner of the carton, that is somewhat similar to the tab in the Brandenburger patent. The tab 42 in Rigby's carton that is located in the center of the opener panel is a "carton reclosure tab", apparently not used to facilitate opening.
It is clear that with the current packaging methods for single servings of dessert-type pies, cost efficient production, product protection, litter prevention and easy access to the contents are not enhanced to an optimum degree. Accordingly, there is need for a strong, efficient, easily opened, disposable paperboard package for containing single servings of dessert-type pies.